Driver 3 (stylized as DRIV3R) is a 2004 open world action-adventure video game. It is the third installment in the Driver series and was developed by Reflections Interactive and published by Atari, Inc.. Driver 3 was released in North America for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on 21 June 2004. In Europe, it was released on 25 June, although due to the way Atari shipped the title across the continent, it made its way into independent UK retailers before the release date, reaching sixth place in the ELSPA chart for that week. A simplified version of the game for mobile phones was developed and released by Sorrent and published in North America on 23 June 2004, while it was published by Unique Games in Europe. On 15 March 2005, it was released on PC for US customers, it was also released on Game Boy Advance 25 October 2005. At one point a Nintendo GameCube version and an N-Gage version were planned, but both were cancelled.[2] The game received mixed reviews on all platforms except the PC, which received mostly unfavorable reviews.
Although two Driver games were published between them, 2011's Driver: San Francisco is considered the sequel to Driver 3.
Contents
1 Gameplay
2 Plot
3 Development
4 Reception
4.1 "DRIV3Rgate"
5 References
6 External links
Gameplay
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The vehicles in Driver 3 are based on real-life vehicles and are designed to behave as such, using realistic damage modeling (e.g., bullet holes appear when a car is shot, or if the car is hit from behind the trunk of the car will pop out).
Weapons are unnamed in the game, with weapons beyond the player's initial weapon unlocked by completing mission or, in Take A Ride mode, from stealing them from police or other enemies. The players can unlock a variety of weapons, including pistols, rifles, and grenade guns.
NPCs react to the player's actions. For example, pedestrians will flee if they see Tanner with a weapon or if he drives too close to them.
Plot
John Tanner, a veteran Federal Bureau Investigation agent associated with the Miami Police Department, is assigned under the investigation of a crime syndicate codenamed "South Beach" alongside his longtime partner, Tobias Jones, with their current leads bringing them to Baccus, the driver for the cartel who has betrayed them by cutting a deal with Tico, a rival gang of South Beach, in exchange for their V8. Following a successful siege upon his apartment, Tanner captures Baccus and offers him witness protection in exchange for him replacing the latter as the new driver for the cartel, though when he attempts to hand over the car keys, the former mistakes them as a weapon and kills him. Afterwards, Tanner retrieves the V8 from Tico's gang in the Gold Coast Hotel and returns it to the cartel, headed by Calita Martinez, an efficient and cold criminal who once executed her own crew members during a standoff with one another, with her henchman, Lomaz, being the only survivor. Following the retrieval of the V8, Tanner undergoes several tests with Lomaz and is required to destroy Tico's compound, earning the trust of the cartel in the process.
The Gator, a prominent crime lord operating in Miami and operating alongside South Beach, betrays the cartel following their recent deal and Tanner is instructed to place explosives on his yacht; after successfully infiltrating the yacht, Tanner detonates the explosives and the yacht is destroyed, attracting the attention of the Gator, who approaches the police and conveys information revealing the whereabouts of the cartel's next deal. Unaware that Tanner is undercover, the police disrupt the deal and he assists the cartel is avoiding capture. Afterwards, Tanner is sent to Dodge Island to collect a vehicle from the Gator, who unsuccessfully attempts to have the former killed, which provokes South Beach in the process, who send both Tanner and Lomaz to execute the Gator in retribution for his betrayal. Simultaneously, Tico, in retaliation for the theft of the V8, personally attacks Tanner's residence and escapes downtown, though the latter tracks him down and executes him on Lomaz's orders.
Soon after, South Beach relocates to Nice, France and Tanner is approached by Henri Vauban and Didier Dubois, agents operating for Interpol, and they insist on hauling the stolen vehicles from them, though Tanner insists on prolonging the investigation to learn who is truly heading the cartel itself. Meanwhile, Tanner and Bad Hand, another of Calita's men, begin to hijack and steal several vehicles belonging to Fabienne, the head of a repossession cartel operating in Nice, leading to competition between the two gangs. Afterwards, Tanner and Lomaz successfully collect weapons from an arms deal, though Fabienne's men ambush them and they are forced to steal the hardware. Following this, Fabienne attempts to kill Tanner and Lomaz with a bomb rigged to their vehicle, though the former instead drives the rigged vehicle to her compound and it explodes, killing several of her men. Soon after, Calita breaks into Fabienne's compound to steal the final vehicle, though she is caught and a shootout erupts, forcing Tanner and Lomaz to rescue her, with the former executing Fabienne afterwards.
Unfortunately, Vauban disobeys Tanner and sends Dubois into the cartel's compound to survey the vehicles, though the latter is captured in the process; Dubois is interrogated and he reveals that Tanner is undercover, leading to Calita forcing the latter to prove his loyalty by killing him. In an attempt to keep his undercover status, Tanner decides to kill Dubois, though the bullet magazine is secretly emptied beforehand, with Calita deciding to have Dubois killed the next day. Frustrated with Vauban's refusal to cooperate, Tanner quickly rescues Dubois from Calita's men before his execution. Afterwards, Tanner and Dubois are sent to the cartel's boathouse to steal their laptop, which contains the information regarding where the sale of the vehicles will take place; they discover that the sale will commence in Istanbul, Turkey before they are caught by the cartel, which is headed by Charles Jericho, the former underling of Solomon Caine, a high-ranking crime lord with a massive criminal organization extending from Chicago to Las Vegas, before his unexpected killing at the hands of the former. Following this, Jericho reveals that Bad Hand replaced the bullet magazine in Tanner's gun with one containing a tracking device, exposing the latter's undercover status; Jericho destroys the laptop and executes Dubois with Tanner's gun whilst the latter escapes to Vauban.
Soon after arriving in Istanbul, Tanner follows Jericho to his meeting with the Bagman, a notorious criminal known for his modus operandi whom will assist in delivering the vehicles for the sale, and discovers that the Gator survived their confrontation. Before Jericho can have the Gator killed, Jones organizes the latter's safety with the Miami police department. Following Dubois' death, Vauban confronts Tanner over the bullets removed from the corpse, accusing him of committing the crime itself and demanding that he be removed from the investigation and put under the supervision of Internal Affairs; Tanner refuses to cooperate with Vauban and escapes alongside Jones, deciding to continue the investigation by themselves. Eventually, Tanner and Jones discover that Lomaz has been making deals with several arms dealers throughout Istanbul and they track down one of the dealers, who reveals the latter's location. Following this, Tanner and Jones capture and interrogate Lomaz, who reveals the drop site from where the Bagman will be meeting with Calita, though the latter suspects that something is wrong and cancels the deal. Simultaneously, Jones chases the Bagman into an ambush and is forced to retreat whilst Tanner captures Calita, earning Vauban's trust once again.
Afterwards, Calita reveals that the vehicles have been delivered to Russia and reveals the drop site where the Bagman will deliver Jericho's money in exchange for protection. Vauban places cameras around the area and the Bagman delivers only half of the agreed amount of money, intending on delivering the second half following the completion of the merchandise checks, though Jericho becomes dissatisfied and kills him instead. Tanner and Jones pursue Jericho's truck and manage to kill the driver, whom they discover is Bad Hand, and realize that this was a distraction whilst Jericho escaped through the train station. Whilst Jones and Vauban track the train, Tanner pursues it and manages to head it off, forcing Jericho to pursue on foot; afterwards, the General Directorate of Security arrives and a shootout begins between them and Jericho's henchmen. Throughout the shootout, Tanner, Jones and Vauban pursue Jericho across the streets and after the massacre of several police officers and henchmen, Tanner corners him in an alleyway and guns him down, though he decides not to finish him off and Jericho uses his last ounce of strength to shoot him. Soon after, Tanner and Jericho, comatose from their extreme blood loss, are sent to a hospital and are operated on by the surgeons.
Development
The game was in development for around three and a half years. Special attention was paid in rendering the cities of Miami, Nice, and Istanbul. The in-game music was composed by Marc Canham, Rich Aitken, and Narco.
Atari also shot a short promotional video about Driver 3 called Run the Gauntlet.
Reception
Reception
Review scores
Publication Score
GBA mobile PC PS2 Xbox
Edge N/A N/A N/A 3/10[3] 3/10[3]
EGM N/A N/A N/A 7.5/10[4] 7.5/10[4]
Eurogamer N/A N/A N/A N/A 3/10[5]
Game Informer N/A N/A N/A 6/10[6] 6/10[6]
Game Revolution N/A N/A N/A D+[8] D+[8]
GamePro N/A N/A N/A 2.5/5 stars[7] 2.5/5 stars[7]
GameSpot N/A 7.5/10[1] 3.8/10[9] 5.4/10[10] 5.4/10[11]
GameSpy N/A 4/5 stars[12] N/A N/A 2/5 stars[13]
GameZone N/A N/A N/A 5.9/10[14] 5.7/10[15]
IGN N/A 8/10[16] 5.4/10[17] 5.4/10[18] 5.5/10[19]
Nintendo Power 5.5/10[20] N/A N/A N/A N/A
OPM (US) N/A N/A N/A 3.5/5 stars[21] N/A
OXM (US) N/A N/A N/A N/A 4.8/10[22]
PC Gamer (US) N/A N/A 51%[23] N/A N/A
The Cincinnati Enquirer N/A N/A N/A 3/5 stars[24] 3/5 stars[24]
The Times N/A N/A N/A 5/5 stars[25] 5/5 stars[25]
Aggregate scores
GameRankings 50%[26] 79%[27] 41%[28] 58%[29] 60%[30]
Metacritic 55/100[31] N/A 40/100[32] 57/100[33] 56/100[34]
The PlayStation 2 version of Driver 3 received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[35] indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[36]
After an extensive and intensive promotional campaign, Driver 3 received "mixed" reviews on all platforms except the PC version, which received "generally unfavorable reviews", according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[31][32][33][34]
The Times gave it all five stars, saying, "The graphics are divine, with vast urban locales and spectacular crashes. The cars handle well, and each vehicle has its own characteristics. Yet this is no easy driving game — one of the reasons why, subject matter aside, it carries a 16+ rating."[25] Playboy gave it an 88% and stated: "Your investigation jump-starts reckless car chases through more than 150 miles of highways and city streets in detailed re-creations of Miami, Nice and Istanbul. Slam into any of the 30,000 buildings and your car crumbles realistically."[37] However, The Cincinnati Enquirer gave it three stars out of five and called its controls and animation "unresponsive and stiff".[24]
"DRIV3Rgate"
While Driver 3 received mostly mixed reviews, two outlets operated by Future plc, PSM2 and Xbox World, gave the game 9/10 scores.[33][34] This disparity led some gamers and journalists to claim that the early access Atari gave Future was contingent on receiving favorable ratings, but Atari and Future denied any wrongdoing.[38][39] The incident was dubbed "Driv3rgate".[39][40]
After the accusations of review fixing arose, the GamesRadar forums (also operated by Future) were filled with critical posts, many of which were deleted by moderators. Although the comments were said to be removed for being libelous, some users suspected a cover-up.[38][39][41] Some comments defending Driver 3 and Future were traced by forum moderators to Babel Media, a marketing company that made use of astroturfing.[41] The users admitted they worked for Babel, but said that they were posting on their own behalf, not for Babel.[41] The thread was eventually deleted in its entirety.[41]
References
Palley, Stephen (22 June 2004). "DRIV3R Review (Mobile)". GameSpot. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"Driv3r exclusive - creative director Martin Edmonson talks!". 16 February 2004. Archived from the original on 7 January 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
Edge staff (August 2004). "DRIV3R (PS2, Xbox)". Edge (139): 94.
EGM staff (August 2004). "Driv3r (PS2, Xbox)". Electronic Gaming Monthly (181). Archived from the original on 24 June 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Reed, Kristan (23 June 2004). "DRIV3R (Xbox)". Eurogamer. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Helgeson, Matt (August 2004). "DRIV3R (PS2, Xbox)". Game Informer (136): 94. Archived from the original on 5 January 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Air Hendrix (September 2004). "Driver 3 (PS2, Xbox)". GamePro: 81. Archived from the original on 8 February 2005. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Silverman, Ben (2 July 2004). "DRIV3R Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Gerstmann, Jeff (28 March 2005). "DRIV3R Review (PC)". GameSpot. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Gerstmann, Jeff (23 June 2004). "DRIV3R Review (PS2)". GameSpot. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Gerstmann, Jeff (21 June 2004). "DRIV3R Review (Xbox)". GameSpot. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Buchanan, Levi (28 June 2004). "GameSpy: DRIV3R (Cell)". GameSpy. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Guzman, Hector (23 June 2004). "GameSpy: DRIV3R (Xbox)". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 25 December 2005. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Tha Wiz (5 July 2004). "DRIV3R - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Valentino, Nick (4 July 2004). "DRIV3R - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Buchanan, Levi (24 June 2004). "DRIV3R (Cell)". IGN. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
McNamara, Tom (22 March 2005). "DRIV3R (PC)". IGN. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Perry, Douglass C. (21 June 2004). "DRIV3R (PS2)". IGN. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
Perry, Douglass C. (21 June 2004). "DRIV3R (Xbox)". IGN. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"DRIV3R". Nintendo Power. 198: 122. December 2005.
Davison, John (August 2004). "DRIV3R". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. Archived from the original on 28 June 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"DRIV3R". Official Xbox Magazine: 80. September 2004.
"DRIV3R". PC Gamer: 69. June 2005.
Saltzman, Marc (8 July 2004). "Late-model Driv3r needs repair work". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Archived from the original on 3 August 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"Driver 3". The Times. 19 June 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2014.(subscription required)
"DRIV3R for Game Boy Advance". GameRankings. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"DRIV3R for Mobile". GameRankings. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"DRIV3R for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"DRIV3R for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"DRIV3R for Xbox". GameRankings. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"DRIV3R for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"DRIV3R for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"DRIV3R for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"DRIV3R for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
"ELSPA Sales Awards: Platinum". Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association. Archived from the original on 15 May 2009.
Caoili, Eric (26 November 2008). "ELSPA: Wii Fit, Mario Kart Reach Diamond Status In UK". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017.
"DRIV3R (PS2, Xbox)". Playboy: 38. April 2004.
Whitehead, Dan (3 May 2011). "Franchise Cheat Sheet: Driver". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
Lui, Spandas. "A history of gaming's biggest scandals". Retrieved 12 April 2016.
Fahey, Rob. "A Question of Trust". Retrieved 12 April 2016.
Campbell, Stuart. "Driv3r and corruption, continued". Retrieved 29 June 2016.
System= Pentium 4 CPU 2.0 GHz
RAM= 256 MB
Video Memory= 96 MB
Size= 622 MB
OS= Windows XP, 2000, Vista, 7 and Windows 8
RAM= 256 MB
Video Memory= 96 MB
Size= 622 MB
OS= Windows XP, 2000, Vista, 7 and Windows 8
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